Hundreds gather to mourn slain Suisun City teen

Misty Westover, 14 and Ethan Baker, 13 both of Fairfield, California listen to a prayer for their schoolmate Genelle Conway-Allen during a candlelight vigil held for her in Allan Witt Park on Friday, February 8, 2013. Hundreds of people gathered at the memorial in the park to remember the 13-year Suisun City girl who was murdered last week. Early Friday, Fairfield Police arrested Anthony Lamar Jones, 32 of Fairfield in connection with the death.
Joel Rosenbaum/jrosenbaum@thereporter.com

A sea of candlelight illuminated the faces of the hundreds gathered in Fairfield's Allan Witt Park on Friday night in remembrance of a 13-year-old Suisun City girl.

Scores of people flocked to the 6:30 p.m. vigil held on the corner of the West Texas Street park where her body was found a week ago.

Armed with candles, prayers, hearts full of condolence and a longing for justice, the brief vigil drew family members, friends, Fairfield Police Chief Walter Tibbet, his command staff and area residents from all walks of life.

As is the custom in other sites of violence, Raymond Courtemanche of Faith Partners of Fairfield reclaimed the park as a place of life, hope and community, accompanied by a symbolic sprinkling from purple water-dipped flowers, an acknowledgment of Genelle's favorite color.

Audience members watched, some weeping, as Courtemanche displayed the newest addition to two bamboo rods displaying red, purple and white ribbons bearing the names of community members who have been victims of homicide.

"We have a responsibility as a great city to not put another ribbon on these poles," Courtemanche said, indicating a red ribbon carrying the name of a girl recalled by those who knew her as sweet, fun and as someone who cared greatly for others.

Maria Ruiz was among the Fairfield residents gathered to pay their respects to Conway-Allen, drawn by her mother's heart and the knowledge of what has been lost by the teen's death.

"My daughter goes to the school here across the street," she explained. "It's sad that she could have been able to see the body and it would have been even worse for her.

"By having little children, it's very concerning. I wish that our town would be back to normal. A safe place."

Ruiz's 11-year-old daughter, Gabby, called the ordeal "scary," knowing that something so horrible could happen so close to home.

"It's very scary," her mother agreed, "and we're glad that somebody was arrested and I hope that it was the right person."

"At school we prayed for her," said 10-year-old Alaina Freeman, who also attended the vigil.

Still, the girls agreed they feel better knowing that the community came together to show how much it cared.

"Everyone doesn't know her -- some people don't know her, but they still care," Gabby said.

"Things like that change the way you think ... I guess we just have to play it safe," Ruiz said, noting that Alaina isn't allowed to ride her bike down the street and Gabby isn't allowed to walk home from school. "I don't feel like they're safe enough.

"I just feel really bad for the family. We're members of the Catholic church, so we always pray in our groups that she found the right place and we prayed that (the suspect) will get caught and pay for (what happened). You can tell that a lot of us feel probably the same pain and concern and scared for each other.

"I feel like parents feel more scared about their children," Gabby observed sagely.

"You hope that something like this won't happen to any one of us again," Alaina said. "It's a devastating moment when it happens."

Tibbet credited the work of investigators in each of the departments involved in helping to bring some amount of closure to the case.

"This is the type of coordination and expertise that we always hope we never have to use, but, when we do, our training, or experience, our dedication by each and every member of this team is phenomenal," he said.

The mass turnout, Tibbet added, was exactly what he has come to expect from the city.

"This is the type of community that we have that in a time of a tragedy, everyone's going to come together to make a statement," he said. "This is how we make the community better."